Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a skill-based lifestyle intervention for enhancing cooking abilities and physical fitness in young adults with intellectual disabilities

Background: Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) often experience poorer diet quality and lower physical fitness levels as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the initial feasibility and efficacy of Chef-ID, a 12-week intervention designed to improve cooking skills and physical function in young adults with ID.

Methods: Young adults with ID attended weekly group sessions which provided hands-on cooking skills, nutrition education, and exercise. Participants were also asked to attend monthly, virtual, goal setting sessions. Feasibility outcomes included attendance, retention, and safety. Preliminary efficacy outcomes included cooking skills, lower body muscle strength, grip strength, aerobic capacity, and body weight. Paired t-tests were used to assess the differences in cooking skills, strength measures, aerobic capacity, and weight after the 12-week intervention.

Results: Study retention was 95 %, attendance exceeded 85 % for all sessions, and no serious adverse events were reported. The number of cooking skills participants could do independently (p = 0.005), the number of cooking skills requiring only a verbal prompt (p = 0.01) and lower body strength (p = 0.004) significantly improved across the 12-week intervention. The number of cooking skills participants had no exposure to (p = 0.01) and weight (p = 0.036) significantly decreased across the intervention. No significant changes were observed for upper body strength or aerobic capacity.

Conclusions: The Chef-ID intervention was feasible with desirable initial effects on cooking skill independence, exposure to cooking skills, lower body strength, and weight. The Chef-ID intervention holds promise in enhancing cooking skills and physical function among young adults with ID.

Trial registration number: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05385016.